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{
    "id": 613146,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/613146/?format=api",
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    "content": "known to the practitioners and the management and every other officer at the hospital. The Committee should have gone further than that. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, I do not know whether this Report binds the people who need to take the investigations further and those who need to get justice for the family. We need to move a Motion so that the Report becomes actionable. We know that when many mothers go to maternity, they go with a lot of expectation that they have nursed a pregnancy for nine months and are ready to receive a baby. The subjects here were twins and I can imagine how elated the parents were. By going to a hospital, it is almost a sure way that a mother will be taken care of and have a safer place to deliver. We have been advocating both in the urban and rural areas that mothers should deliver in hospitals. We know of the complications that might arise when mothers deliver at home. The hospitals, which are beacons of hope, have become a place where mothers are afraid to go. They doubt whether they will deliver safely. This is something that worries all of us. A place where mothers are sure that they are attended to with the best services is making them to consider delivering at home. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, we have been happy that the mortality rate has been dropping because mothers have been delivering in hospitals but it is unfortunate if these hospitals turn out to be places where children are lost. This is not a new issue. It is something that we have been reading in the newspapers dating years back that children in Pumwani Maternity Hospital are stolen. With the high turnover of delivery in Pumwani Maternity Hospital, it becomes a vulnerable facility to lose children. Parents are given various excuses, for instance, claiming that there were stillbirths, among others. Since this matter is alive in this House, it should be looked at keenly with the urgency it deserves once and for all. Just imagine these are the reported cases. How many other parents are losing their children daily in Pumwani or any other maternity hospitals which go unreported? We have it with us and we should get clear assurance from the Ministry of Health regarding measures being put in place, so that we do not just have a big and good referral hospital in our country and in the region, but which cannot assure parents of the safety of their babies. We want parents to go there satisfied that they will come out with the best results from the hospital. We do not want a situation where parents go to the hospital half-heartedly wondering whether or not they will get their children. I know that this issue is not only rife in Pumwani Maternity Hospital. It is not just about children getting lost, but we also know that there is negligence in some of the hospitals in our counties. For example, in Samburu County, we lost three mothers who had gone to deliver the other day, just because of negligence. One of them delivered on the pavement, while she was already at the hospital. We lost another one through a caesarean section. As a country, I know we have put in a lot to ensure that our children and mothers are safe. There are areas where we have worked a lot and the free maternity that was introduced by the Jubilee Government has really encouraged many mothers to go to hospitals. However, if they go to the same hospitals and face the challenges that they are facing, we would be negating some of the strides that we have made as a country. The electronic version of the Senate Hansard Report is for information purposes only. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor, Senate."
}